Elon Musk says he can't fall asleep.
The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) confides that he is currently having sleepless nights.
He can't sleep because he's obsessed with a big problem to which he has no answers yet.
The tech tycoon is indeed going through a very difficult period for anyone who wants to transform civilization as it currently is.
Musk, whose influence extends beyond tech circles and the business community, sees himself as a global CEO intervening in world affairs. In recent months, he has gone from being a business leader to a world leader capable of shaking the balance on the international stage.
Indeed, by providing Ukraine, invaded on February 24 by Russia, Starlink, the secure and independent satellite internet access service of its aerospace company SpaceX, the billionaire gave kyiv an incomparable weapon.
The Power of Starlink
Not only has Starlink enabled Ukrainians to counter Russian propaganda by telling their version of this war in real time, but the service is proving to be a real strategic tool allowing the Ukrainian authorities to communicate without fear of sabotage or the risk of being listened to by the Russians.
"Starlink provided a decisive battlefield advantage," the billionaire said on Oct. 9.
Starlink's success in Ukraine is now seen by people living under dictatorship as their window of freedom to the outside world. Recently Iranians protesting against the Ayatollahs' regime in Tehran appealed to Musk for access to Starlink.
Musk granted their request.
Starlink has thus made the richest man in the world one of the most influential personalities in the world. But that status has just faltered after the Techno King presented a perceived pro-Russian peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.
This plan, unveiled and submitted to the vote of Twitter users on October 3, asks kyiv to recognize as Russian the Crimea and the Donbas, two Ukrainian regions annexed and occupied by Russia. The Ukrainian authorities must also renounce their desire to join NATO and the European Union.
“Dumb” was the reaction of US senator Lindsey Graham.
On the Ukrainian side, President Volodymyr Zelensky considered it a capitulation, and said Musk has become pro-Russian.
'Nuclear War Probability Is Rising Rapidly'
The serial entrepreneur seemed surprised by these harsh criticisms.
He tried in vain to explain that his peace plan was realistic. He explained that he fears that the conflict could turn into a total war with the possibility of a nuclear war which would have enormous consequences for Ukraine and the world.
The richest man in the world continues to insist. He seems to believe that this conflict is escalating. He now fears that we are now moving towards the most worrying option for the whole world: a nuclear war.
"Nuclear war probability is rising rapidly," the billionaire warned on Oct. 9.
The warning came after he told his 108 million Twitter followers that he was no longer sleeping because he was looking for a way to end this war before it crosses a point of no return.
"I’ve been up all night trying to think of any possible way to de-escalate this war," Musk said after a Twitter user asked him what were his plans for Sunday.
Musk's dire warning comes three days after President Joe Biden warned of "Armageddon" amid nuclear threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since [president John] Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” Biden said during a fundraiser in New York on Oct 6.
"We’ve got a guy” -- Russian President Vladimir Putin -- "I know fairly well. He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons," the president added.
This warning sounded like an alert to tell the world that we were at a critical and crucial moment in the Russian war in Ukraine.
Facing stubborn Ukrainian resistance fueled by Western military aid, Putin alluded to the atomic bomb in a televised speech on September 21. He said he was ready to use "all weapon systems available" in his arsenal against the West, which he accused of wanting to "destroy" Russia.
"It's not a bluff," Putin said.
According to experts, an atomic attack would likely employ tactical nuclear weapons -- smaller in explosive charge than a strategic nuclear weapon.
Ukrainian troops have been on the offensive on all fronts since the beginning of September and have already recaptured most of the Kharkiv region in the northeast, and important logistical nodes such as Izium, Kupyansk and Lyman (East).
